How much money can you get from a Personal Grievance?
This is the caveat for all articles we publish. These are opinions freely given, and they aren’t going to be right in all situations (see here for our terms and conditions) so use at your own risk. For tailored advice, book an appointment to discuss.
You might feel a little guilty thinking about this, but don’t. Part of the question of whether to take a PG is ‘is it worth it?’ and while there are other reasons to take a PG (see here) ‘how much’ is a very important factor. So asking ‘how much could I get’ is very important, because it needs to be weighed against other factors.
No doubt you’ve read our standard disclaimer above, but it’s particularly relevant here. I can only give you ballpark figures and opinions here, and every case is different, so this is only to help you get your bearings on these questions, and not to provide you with promises of expected payments.
Also this is very specifically for New Zealand. I can’t help with anything outside of NZ. It’s also based on 2024 data- I might update this, but remember things change, and I can’t predict the future.
We start at the courts and work out way backwards
I discuss how the NZ courts work here, but this is our starting point, because how much you might get in a settlement is influenced by how much you might get in an Authority decision. I discuss this more here, but how much a settlement goes for is based on what the parties (independently) think the authority might award in a court case. So below is what currently the courts might award.
Hurt and humiliation (H&H)
This is compensation for the damage done to your psyche. The name says it all; if it’s decided you were not treated fairly, the court will award compensation for that. Typically they don’t award this if you are disputing money; if you’re taking your employer to court because they don’t agree with you over money, that’s not something the courts seeing as causing hurt or humiliation. Awards for hurt and humiliation are tax-free, so you get to keep all of it.
Currently the courts work of three bands; band 1 is for low H&H, and is approximately NZ$5-15k. It’s where the court feel the H&H was light, for a range of possible reasons, such as it was a short job, or the employee didn’t express that much damage was done.
Band 2 is the most common, with the biggest range of NZ$15-40k (currently). This is for moderate H&H. The term moderate has a broad meaning, and there are a lot of factors in play, but generally this is where the employee survived, but it what happened to them was quite an emotional blow. This is the most common, and probably the starting point for the courts, who will upgrade to band 3 or band 1 according to factors in front of them. With the range, there is a lot of room to move, but we frequently see around 25k.
Band 3 is for severe H&H, where the damage done to reputation, to the employee’s personal life, their relationships, and/or their mental health was significant. We do see these, but they are rare.
In summary, every case is different so the numbers can go up, can go down, but if you’re looking for a benchmark, 25k is a fair starting point. As I discuss here, this isn’t winning lotto money, it’s winning a scratch ticket money. It’s not buy-a-house money, it’s buy-a-car money.
Lost earnings
If you win, your employer needs to compensate you for the earnings you missed out on. So how much you stand to win depends on how much you were paid, but on the other hand, this is money you missed out, and would have received had you worked. So it’s not really gaining money.
It’s also only for money you actually missed out on, so if you find another job, you can’t claim for that time. Also you need to actively trying to find a job, AND be able to demonstrate this, so don’t forget to save evidence of job applications.
Lost earnings is taxable, so be prepared to lose a bit to tax, and don’t forget to do your tax return.
Penalties
If it’s clear case of bad behaviour (and often it is) the courts will impose a penalty. By default this goes to the crown, but it’s not uncommon for part of it to be awarded to the employee. This is a nice extra if you get it, but I wouldn’t rely upon it.
Reinstatement
Reinstatement is a big issue, so I do discuss it more here. In principle (under s125 of the ERA) employees should be reinstated to their jobs as the first priority. But for many reasons (I discuss here, here, and here) bridges are burnt, and the relationship is irreparable. And there is a tension there; the employee must prove how damaged they are, which can be very difficult to balance with also saying ‘I can still work with these people’. I discuss here how claiming reinstatement can be a useful strategy, but is it awarded? Rarely.
Contribution
Unfortunately, the potential fault isn’t always on them. Even if you win, and your employer makes errors (see here and here for how important process is) you can still be held accountable for your actions. The courts will judge how much you contributed to the situation, and potentially diminish your wins accordingly, up to 100%.
To give some examples; should the employer dismiss you on the spot, with no process whatsoever, they could be wrong, but you contributed 100% to the situation because you punched that guy out of the blue. To give a more grey example, you may win a bullying case, but your conduct in the workplace wasn’t perfect, so the court may have found your contributed to the situation.
Costs
In New Zealand, you may seek, and the courts award, that the other party pay for your legal bills. It’s not my field of expertise to give you an opinion on how much and how likely, but it’s important to factor these in for two reasons: you don’t necessarily need to weigh (all or part of) your representative’s potential bill against your potential gains, because this might be recovered. But also remember that can be awarded against you should you lose, so worst case scenario- you have to pay all of your representative’s bill, and all or part of your employer’s bill.
